The present invention relates to automated article handling equipment and more particularly to the unwrapping of bagged container ends.
In the manufacture of containers such as aluminum soft drink and beer cans, the tops, or ends, of the cans are manufactured in a stamping and scoring operation in a conversion press, where they are provided with beaded rims, "pop-tops", and so forth. The generally flat disc ends are then stacked face-to-face and packaged with paper bags. The bags facilitate transport and handling of the ends and protect them from dirt and other contaminants. The bags are fabricated from a one piece sheet of light weight paper material by joining opposite sides of the sheet to form an elongated tube large enough to enclose the stack of can ends. The bottom of the sheet is folded to form a flap extending radially outwardly from the stack and the top of the wrapper is folded to form a pair of ears extending longitudinally upwardly and radially outwardly from the stack.
The wrapped end packages are transported to a seamer apparatus where the ends are joined to filled beverage cans. At the seamer, the ends must be removed from the wrapper while their stacked configuration is maintained for convenient feeding to the seamer apparatus. The "debagging" of the can ends at the seamer apparatus is commonly carried out by hand and, due to the production speed of the automated seamer, represents a slow-down in the production process.
Attempts have been made in the past to automate the debagging process. Zenger et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 3,686,820 describe a system wherein stacks of ends are encased between heat sealable sheets and transported as a strip of stacked ends. The stacks are removed from the strip by the splitting and unwrapping of the two sheets. Another type of debagging system is described by Bofinger et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 3,441,156. Paper covered packages are carried upward by a conveying mechanism and slit longitudinally by an adjustable knife blade. The slit wrapper is then removed by a pair of opposed rollers.